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Inmate finds clothes don't make the man

FLINT, MICHIGAN — Officials are investigating how an inmate on suicide watch slipped into a sheriff's uniform and nearly escaped from the county jail.

Thomas Fisher, 36, of Flint, made it as far as the kitchen in the jail's basement last Sunday before a cook spotted him wearing jail-issue flip-flops, according to Genesee County Undersheriff James Gage.

Fisher should have been handcuffed to a bench after he was brought to the booking room en route to his floor, but he was left unsecured, Gage said.

He walked out of the booking area, found a uniform closet and donned the garb of a command officer, Gage said.